Tag Archives: Android

We still don’t have much solid information about the next release of Android — we’ve heard that Android P could have some notch optimizations and that access to undocumented APIs could get blocked, but we don’t really know too much more than that. However, the open-source nature of Android means that we can sometimes get a glimpse of what the next release of Android might have in store.

As spotted by XDA Developers, a recent commit on AOSP appears to indicate that Android P could implement a rule that would prevent background apps from accessing the camera.

Under the stewardship of HMD Global, Nokia’s Android revival has continues apace. The company seems intent on filling out its lineup with every number one through ten, and the next devices rumored to be joining the ranks are the Nokia 7+ and the Nokia 1. Thanks to serial leaker Evan Blass, we now know what they’re going to look like.

There’s a new version of Android Messages rolling out to our phones. So far, we haven’t seen any significant changes to the UI, but huge things are happening under the surface. A teardown reveals Google is getting ready to launch a web interface that would allow users to pair their phones with a computer for all of their texting needs. Google may also be planning to offer its own enhanced chat features to work with RCS messaging.

Back in December, we made a surprising discovery: if you had Ok Google detection enabled on your Android Wear watch, it could cause a lot of lag and jittery behavior all the time. Disabling the setting completely turned the behavior around and made it so that the watch was smooth and stutter-free. I recorded a video back then to show the night and day difference and many of you chimed in reporting that disabling the detection had the same beneficial effects on your watch as well.

Twitter is no stranger to server-side tests, and now the company appears to have another in the wings. AP’s own Artem noticed a bit of a tweak in Twitter for Android in recent days, with a new three-dot share button appearing at the bottom of tweets. All the sharing options previously present in the arrow menu to a tweet’s top right have been relocated to this button, and the previous “send privately” option is now gone.

Current layout (left), new layout including Share button (right)

Artem notes that he was running a recent beta when he noticed the new icon, and though I tried installing the last few beta versions to trigger it, the change appears to be server-side.

Android Auto makes the in-car experience a lot nicer (at least when it’s not bugging out), but it’s tedious to have to plug your phone in every time you get in the car just to use it. We’ve been hoping for a wireless solution for some time now, and it seems like it’s finally becoming a reality. JVCKENWOOD will have two receivers capable of wireless Android Auto on display at CES 2018.

HMD Global confirmed in September that the entire line of Nokia phones would be updated to Android 8.0 Oreo. The confirmation didn’t explicitly mention the Nokia 2, because it hadn’t been officially announced at that point, leaving some to wonder if HMD’s super-budget model would be left on Nougat. Juho Sarvikas, Chief Product Officer at HMD Global, has confirmed on Twitter that the Nokia 2 will actually jump straight to Android 8.1.

The Xiaomi Mi A1 is undoubtedly one of the best budget phones you can buy right now, as long as you live somewhere where it is sold. It’s Xiaomi’s first Android One device, meaning it runs completely stock Android with no modifications. Xiaomi promised that it would receive Oreo by the end of 2017, and while the final update still isn’t ready, some owners have been invited to a private beta test.

I love my Huawei Watch because it can vibrate and notify me silently of new messages and calls without disturbing everyone around me like my phone does, but recently I’ve stopped using it for anything else because of the lag. One out of every 3 or 4 taps or swipes seems to stutter and take forever. And I often find it faster and easier to take out my phone and do things than wait for Android Wear’s whims to execute a command.